 Rosh
Hashanah Vol 16 No 1
27 September 2003 1 Tishri 5764
Yom Tov ends in London on Sunday at 19:32
We wish
all our readers a Happy New Year - Shanah Tova
Rosh Hashanah 5764
by Chief Rabbi Dr Jonathan Sacks
There are many lovely explanations for why we blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah,
but one of the most powerful is given by Moses Maimonides, whose 800th
yahrzeit we will commemorate in the coming year. For Maimonides the
shofar is G-d's alarm clock, waking us up from the "slumber"
in which we spend many of our days. What did he mean?
G-d's greatest gift to us is time, and He gives it to us on equal terms. Whether
we are rich or poor, there are still only 24 hours in a day, seven days
in a week and a span of years that is all too short. Often we spend
our time on things that in Maimonides' words "neither help nor
save." How many people looking back on a lifetime, say, "I
wish I had spent more time at committee meetings"? By contrast,
how many say, "I wish I had spent more time with my children, or
helping others, or simply enjoying being alive"? Sometimes we can
be so busy making a living that we hardly have time to live.
Experts on time management speak about two types of activity, the urgent and
the important. Often our days are spent on the urgent, and we lose out
on the important. I remember a conversation with someone who had been
a workaholic, busy seven days a week. As a result of a personal crisis
he decided to keep Shabbat. He later told me it was the best decision
he ever made. "Now," he said, "I have time for my wife
and child and for my friends. Going to Shul has made me part of community.
The strange thing is that the work still gets done, in six days not
seven." Shabbat teaches us to take time for what is important even
though it isn't urgent.
Thirty years ago, when technology was less advanced, most people who wrote about
the future saw it as an age of leisure when we would have far more free
time. It has not happened that way. We seem more pressurised than ever
and less relaxed. Mobile phones, e-mails and pocket computers mean that
we are constantly on call. As Wordsworth said, "The world is too
much with us; late and soon/Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers."
The Psalmist put it best: "Teach us to number our days that we
may get a heart of wisdom." Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are when
we number our days. Asking to be written in the book of life, we think
about life and how we use it.
In this context the three key words of the Unetaneh Tokef prayer are fundamental:
teshuvah, tefillah and tzedakah. Teshuvah is about our relationship
with ourself. Tefillah is about our relationship with God. Tzedakah
is about our relationship with other people.
Teshuvah means not only "repentance" but also "returning"
- to our roots, our faith, our people's history and our vocation as
heirs to those who stood at Sinai more than three thousand years ago.
Teshuvah asks us: did we grow in the past year or did we stand still?
Did we study the texts of our heritage? Did we keep one more mitzvah?
Did we live fully and confidently as Jews? Teshuvah is our satellite
navigation system giving us a direction in life.
Tefillah means prayer. It is our conversation with G-d. We speak, but if we
are wise we also listen, to the voice of G-d as refracted through the
prayers of a hundred generations of our ancestors. Tefillah is less
about asking G-d for what we want, more about asking G-d to teach us
what to want. A new car? A better job? An exotic holiday? Our prayers
do not speak about these things because life is about more than these
things. It is less about what we own than about what we do and who we
aspire to be. We speak about forgiveness, and about G-d's presence in
our lives. We remind ourselves that, short though our time on earth
is, by connecting with G-d we touch eternity. Tefillah is our mobile
phone to heaven.
Tzedakah is about the good we do for others. Sir Moses Montefiore was one of
the great figures of Victorian Jewry. He was a wealthy man and devoted
much of his long life to serving the Jewish people in Britain and worldwide
(he built the windmill in Jerusalem, and the area of which it is a part
- Yemin Moshe - is named after him). He was also highly respected in
British society and The Times devoted leaders to him on his ninety-ninth
and hundredth birthday. Someone once asked him how much he was worth,
and he gave him a figure. "But," said the questioner, "I
know you own more than that." "You didn't ask me what I own
but what I am worth. The figure I gave you was how much money I have
given this year to charity, because we are worth what we are willing
to share with others." That is tzedakah.
Certain mitzvot in Judaism are rehearsals for a time to come. Shabbat
is a rehearsal for the messianic age when strife will end and peace
reign. Yom Kippur - when we do not eat or drink or engage in physical
pleasure, and when there is a custom to wear kittel like a shroud -
is a dress rehearsal for death. It forces us to ask the ultimate question:
what did I do in my life that was worthwhile? Did waste time or did
I share it, with my faith, with G-d, and with those in need? Knowing
that none of us will live forever, we ask G-d for another year: to grow,
to pray and to give. That is what Maimonides meant when he called the
shofar G-d's alarm call, asking us not to slumber through life but to
use it to bring blessings. May the Almighty bless us, our families and
the Jewish people, and may He write us all in the Book of Life.
A Rosh Hashanah message from Tribe
When we look around our shuls this Rosh Hashanah we feel a tangible sense of
community. Our services are full, or certainly far fuller than any other
time of year. However if we look a little closer we will see that the
percentage of young faces in the crowds that come on Rosh Hashanah is
fairly low.
This is where Tribe comes in. We have been charged with looking after the future
of our community - our young people. If we cannot guarantee the continuity
of our community then we will not have a bright future to look forward
to. We will be working with four age groups:
- Tribe Kids. From first nappy to last day at primary school
- Tribe Teens. Secondary school from start to finish
- Tribe Campus. Freshers fairs through to graduation glory
- Tribe 20s+. The journey to parenthood
Over the coming weeks, months and years with our dedicated team of Rabbis, Youth
Rabbis, Community Directors and Youth Directors, Tribe will be bringing
a living, vibrant and relevant Judaism to all young people in our communities
across the UK. This Rosh Hashanah we can hopefully look forward to a
future where our shuls will be brimming with young people involved in
their communities in a positive and dynamic way. Be a part of it.
Shanah Tova
Rabbi Andrew Shaw
Executive Director
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